A Shift in the Water (16 page)

“I am. You want to see my medical file? Talk to my doctor?”

A fiercely possessive flash of emotion seized Cade’s heart and twisted it in a vise. “Yes.” When Mara frowned, he dropped her hand. “How do you feel now?”

“Fine. Better than fine. I haven’t felt this good in months. But it won’t last. It never does. Last week my numbers
did
have a little uptick. But no one’s been able to figure out why I’m dying, or how to prevent it. I get transfusions of blood that keep me alive, but no one thinks it’ll keep working for much longer.”

“You’re not sick,” he insisted again. “I’d know.”
And I’d fix it
. The overwhelming need to take care of this woman was his only clear thought. Clearer than his own name. A shiver went through his body and he wrapped his arms tightly around himself.

“Are you okay?”

“Cold,” Cade said. “I was overheated for months. Now that I’m back to a normal temperature it feels like I’m freezing.”

Mara took the blanket from the back of the couch and wrapped it around him. “You need clothes. There’s a Target right up the road. If I go shopping for you, will you promise me that you won’t go all overprotective male and leave before I get back?”

Cade’s lips quirked in amusement. “Yes. I promise. I’d rather not get arrested for indecent exposure.”

Mara handed him a pad of paper and a pen. “Write down your sizes for me while I take a quick shower and get dressed.”

Cade sat on the couch for a long time holding the pen over the paper. Even the act of writing felt foreign to him now. He could barely manage chicken scratch and only had a vague idea of what sizes he wore. He knew his shoe size was twelve, but he couldn’t remember how tall he was or how much he was supposed to weigh. He knew he’d lost weight.

His shift in Mara’s bed had terrified him. Her element seeped into his pelt, water infusing his body with a cool, soothing balm. The fur was absorbed back into his skin. A shaggy mop of hair sprouted from his skull. Lacy pain spread out over his entire body. The bones shattered, lengthened, and reformed. The wolf howled until his voice box grew and his Adam’s apple popped free, and then the noise changed to a hoarse moan. The entire transformation had taken less than a minute. He hadn’t been able to think. Not until Mara had talked to him. Her touch calmed his frantic mind. He didn’t understand all the words, could barely answer her, but somehow she’d known what he’d needed. He looked down the hall.
Come back.

Waking up with her this morning he’d been shocked at his humanity. He’d thought it was all a dream. But it wasn’t. Mara was here. He could touch her, talk to her, even hold her if she’d let him.

When Mara emerged from the bathroom wearing jeans and a soft green sweater, he handed her the paper with trembling hands. “I don’t remember.” He stared down at his bare feet, not recognizing his own body. 

“It’s okay. Come with me.” Mara took his hand and led him into the bedroom. Her fingers were warm and soft. Cade didn’t want to let go. She rummaged in her dresser and came away with a flexible measuring tape. “Arms up.” She wrapped the tape around his waist. “Twenty-nine. Skinny one, aren’t you?”

“She starved me,” he whispered. “If you hadn’t been there, I don’t think I would have lasted another few hours.”

“Well, then, maybe a larger size and a belt for you. And some chocolate.” Mara smiled. “Height? I’m guessing six foot two?” She backed him up against the wall to measure. “Six-one.” She handed him the end of the tape measure. “Um, inseam.” Cade looked away as he tucked the end of the tape at the juncture of his thighs and Mara read the length of his leg back to him. “Go on. Write it down. I’ll wait.”

Every letter and number was easier than the last. What else had he forgotten? He didn’t know where he was or where the bad woman was. He couldn’t even remember her name right now.

He didn’t want Mara to leave. When she tucked the paper into her pocket, he grabbed her wrist. “How far are we from where you found me?”

“We’re in Seattle. Three hours total. Ninety minutes by ferry and the same by car. Why?”

“The elemental who did this to me—I don’t know where she is or how to find her. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I’ll be perfectly safe. Target is all of two miles from here. I’ll be back in less than an hour. Besides, how in the world could she find you?”

“I don’t know. But that’s the problem.
I don’t know
. Maybe she can track me.”

“You’ve been here for ten days. You’ve been safe here with me the whole time. If she could track you, she would have done so by now.”

“The man who attacked you . . .”

“Was a robber. They caught him. He’s in jail and he’s been breaking into houses for a month now. I highly doubt that he has anything to do with the woman who hurt you.” She smiled at him again. His heart skipped a beat. She was beautiful and her smile lit up her eyes, making them shine like the clearest emeralds. She wore no makeup, and her red hair was loose and long over her shoulders. The scoop neck of her sweater exposed a creamy expanse of skin and a wire-wrapped crystal rested in the delicate hollow of her throat. He stared at it for a moment. It looked like the sea after a storm, with swirling colors and pinpricks of light dancing over her skin. He stepped closer.

“I—don’t go.” He couldn’t believe he’d said that.

Mara laid her hand over his heart. His fingers were still curled around her wrist. “You have to relax. You can’t live in my old robe and you certainly can’t leave wearing it. I’ve got a great hot water heater. Take a long shower. It’ll make you feel better. When I get back, we’ll talk more, and figure out what to do next, okay?”

“I don’t like this.”

“I’ve left the house almost every day you’ve been here. Remember?”

“And every day I hated it.”

Mara twisted her hand away from his body, picked up the pad of paper and the pen, and scrawled a series of numbers. “You remember phones, right?”

“Um, yes. I think so.”

“That’s my cell phone. If you need anything, call me. I can be back here in ten minutes.” Mara stroked Cade’s hair and cupped the back of his neck. She smelled good. He leaned in slightly, licking his lips. The impulse to kiss her was strong. But she pulled back too quickly. “Relax. Don’t worry about me. Wherever this bad woman is, it’s not here. There are only four people who know you were with me and they all think you’re some weirdly domesticated wolf. There’s no way she can find you.”

Cade didn’t move until he heard her lock the door behind her. Nothing made sense to him, least of all his own emotions. He didn’t want her to go, but she was right. He couldn’t leave wearing her robe. He stepped into the bathroom and undressed. He barely recognized his own body. He had at least a dozen new scars on his torso, his legs, and his back from his time as a wolf. His hair was longer than he’d remembered, and his cheeks were almost hollow. But the face that stared back at him in the mirror was familiar.

When he stepped under the hot spray, he groaned in happiness. His body felt less foreign with every passing minute. He explored it with burned, calloused fingers. His thighs trembled with the effort of keeping himself upright. He was still weak. Shifting took massive amounts of energy and he didn’t have any to spare. He washed his hair, smoothed Mara’s soap over his body, and thought of her. She smelled good. His wolf had felt safe pressed against her at night. If only his memory wasn’t so foggy. Bits and pieces were all he had. The sickly metallic scent of Mara’s illness, her voice waking him from his nightmares, how she’d wrapped her body around his after he’d chased after the bad man who’d tried to hurt her.

Oh shit
. He’d bitten the man. A werewolf’s bite could infect a human. Not all humans would succumb to the Lycos virus, but thirty percent of the population carried the gene that facilitated the infection. If he’d bitten the man during the full moon, the man could turn. Cade closed his eyes and tuned into the lunar cycle. The full moon was almost two weeks away. No wonder he was so weak. It was practically new. His bite should have no effect on the man.

He spilled more of Mara’s soap over his skin. He could feel her, even now. Every time she’d touched him, the scent of sickness on her had faded. So had his pain. Could her illness have something to do with her elemental powers?

He couldn’t think. His stomach growled insistently. He needed more food. Werewolves ate more than normal humans, a side effect of their increased body temperatures. They burned calories at an accelerated rate and though Mara had kept his wolf well fed, his human form needed more than a few pounds of meat a day. A werewolf ate nearly double a normal man’s intake when he shifted. He would have to eat again soon—then apologize to Mara for eating her out of house and home. 

Cade turned off the water and wrapped himself in one of Mara’s large green towels. He was still cold, but at least he wasn’t shivering uncontrollably any longer. Once he’d rubbed his hair dry, he hung the towel up and retrieved her robe. It smelled like Mara and that comforted him. He’d stay with her forever if he could.

No.
His wolf was still in control of his emotions. The wolf needed her—her strength, her compassion, her willingness to help him when no one else would. But the man he was now couldn’t stay. He had to leave her to keep her safe.

Tremors wracked his body. He needed rest. With a single longing glance at Mara’s bed, he trudged out to the living room and crawled under the blanket on the couch. Within minutes, he was asleep.

Mara wandered the aisles of the Target men’s department and tried to make sense of the past twelve hours. Werewolves were real. Her wolf—the animal she’d grown to care for—was a man and he was largely naked in her house right now. She didn’t even know what he liked to wear. To be fair, he probably didn’t either at this point. She dropped two pairs of jeans into her cart along with a couple of thick sweatshirts, three T-shirts, two flannel shirts, a six-pack of socks, and a four-pack of boxers. “Shoes. He’ll need shoes.” She grabbed a pair of Keds and a handful of chocolate bars, a tube of toothpaste, a toothbrush, and deodorant.

Jen’s purple scooter was parked on the curb when Mara pulled into the driveway and she groaned. She did
not
need to deal with Jen today. The petite brunette had a key in the front door when Mara called her name.

Oh thank the Goddess. I can only imagine what she would have done if she’d walked in and seen Cade.

“Mar! Are you headed to the hospital today? I totally forgot that I had the day off. It’s Senior Cut day. I can take you and we can go have lunch. I want to try that new Mexican place on the west side of the lake.”

“I’m going to the hospital this afternoon, but I can’t have lunch with you today. I’ve got a ton of stuff to take care of,” she hedged. She juggled her purse and the bag of clothing, praying Jen would leave quickly.

Jen peered into the bag Mara carried. “What the fuck?” Her hand darted out and withdrew the four-pack of boxer briefs.

Mara cursed under her breath. “Give me those.” She lunged for the package, but Jen jumped back.

“Nu-huh. Not until you tell me why the hell you’ve got these. You’re
sick,
Mara.”